What do paintings tell us about sex? How is art gendered? In this course we will study some of the world’s most beloved pictures guided by expert curators and art historians who step outside of the square, bringing a gendered reading to the masterpieces contained in the magnificent collections that we have been lucky enough to bring to the Coursera platform. In this course you will learn how:
* Gender and sexuality is an integral part of the production and reception of works of art
* To increase your understanding of paintings through theories of gender and sexuality
* To understand key terms from gender-related theories of art history and museology
* To recognise the operation of what is termed ‘the gaze’ and how it works in relation to paintings
* Ideas about gender and sexuality can productively be employed in theorising art curatorial practices
* To take the initiative in relating theoretical ideas about gender and sexuality to the reading and display of art and visual cultures.
View the MOOC promotional video here: http://tinyurl.com/hm7qbl3

From the lesson

Gainsborough at the Huntington

We consider five pictures by Thomas Gainsborough in week three of this course that are held in the collection of the Huntington Gallery in California, through an explication of how the artist represented his subjects in the context of the culture of sensibility. Beginning with Gainsborough’s painting of Karl Friedrich Abel, we consider how the artist produced his portrait of masculinity through references to music, science and the senses. We then move to Gainsborough’s pendant portraits of Lord and Lady Ligonier, and The Blue Boy, focussing upon boundaries of gender and sexuality, including debates around effeminacy and passion between the sexes. We conclude with the Huntington’s Cottage Door, considering how this staged scene calls the viewer to look with charity upon impoverished rural women and their children.